Healing For The Broken Heart

We’re in the series, "The Case for the Real Jesus, How Jesus is not Synthetic or False, but Real and Reliable!" We’re using Psalm 34:8 (NCV) as our Scriptural theme for this series. "Examine and see how good the Lord is. Happy is the person who trusts him."

Historical evidence abounds for the authenticity of Jesus’ life, His teachings and His miracles, but what we’re looking at in this series is how experiencing Christ personally by placing our faith in Him is the way to see how good and how great He is! It’s the path to true happiness, inner peace and joy because as our faith in Christ deepens so does our joy and peace! We’re talking about how the empirical evidence proves Christ more and more real the more we trust Him.

There are some problems that faith alone can truly conquer. Two weeks ago we looked at how accepting and dwelling in Christ’s love for us gives us confidence over our fears, even and especially the fear of death. Last week we saw how a personal relationship with Christ and faith in Him conquers worry.

Admittedly, if what we experience with our five senses alone was all there is, we might want to discard the process of faith. Not that true faith isn’t based on facts and not that true facts ever contradict the Word of God, but there are some facts that cannot be tested in a laboratory because some things are not natural – they’re supernatural and they’re factual nonetheless.

In the book, “What’s So Great About Christianity,” author Dinesh D’Souza gives examples of how a lot of people ignore the supernatural. Here’s one quote.

“In his famous PBS program ’Cosmos,’ astronomer Carl Sagan developed the trademark slogan, ‘The cosmos is all there is, all there was, or ever will be.’ Sagan’s implication was clear: the natural world is all that exists, and there is simply no supernatural. This was presented not as a metaphysical claim but as the authoritative finding of science.

“But at least it was presented to adults, who could evaluate Sagan’s arguments and make up their own minds. Pretty soon Sagan’s doctrine could be found in children’s books. One, ’The Berenstain Bears’ Nature Guide,’ features the bears going on a stroll through the woods. Emblazoned on the page featuring a beautiful scene is the ideological message, ‘Nature is all that is, or was, or ever will be.’”

From TV documentaries to children’s books our culture is saturated with the ideology that the natural world is all there is. Jesus Christ challenges that philosophy. And those who accept Christ by faith find that there is a supernatural realm and that God’s help is available to us when we need it. But in order to access that help we must seek God by faith. We must trust in Him. God rewards those who trust Him as the Scripture states:

"Without faith no one can please God. Anyone who comes to God must believe that He is real and that He rewards those who truly want to find Him." Hebrews 11:6 (NCV)

Today we’re going to talk about another area of our lives where we find Christ real to us. It’s another area where God rewards us by trusting Him. We’ve talked about fear, we’ve talked about worry; today we’re considering how a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, one where you walk and talk intimately with Him, heals a broken heart.

If you’re a member of the human race you’ve had your heart broken by any number of sadnesses but the good news is that Jesus is greater than the things that have brought us heartache! Our heart may have been broken by a betrayal, by someone’s shocking behavior toward us, by the loss of a loved one, loss of a job or a downturn in income, rejection, divorce, abuse, cruelty, hurtful words, or physical suffering brought on by disease or disability. Sometimes our hearts are broken by our own bad behavior.

But no matter what breaks our hearts Jesus can heal them!

Why is it so strategically essential that my broken heart be healed?

Because the failure to let Jesus heal my broken heart adversely affects me and those around me. It holds me back from experiencing greater joy, peace and happiness. It bars me from deeper relationships, both with God and with others.

That’s one of the reasons we need to pray this biblical prayer:

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way." Psalm 139:23-24 (NASB)

Say that verse out loud with me as a prayer from our hearts right now.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way." Psalm 139:23-24 (NASB)